RateTea.net Copyright Notice:
Unless otherwise stated, and excluding commercial descriptions, images, and trademarks from other companies, all material on this site is copyright Merit Exchange LLC, the company that manages RateTea.net.
Exceptions:
Our twitter follow button is copyright Limeshot Design. Our rss feed icon is adapted from Perishable Press. Our maps and country flags are copyrighted adaptations from the CIA Factbook, where the original images are available in the public domain. Maps of Chinese provinces and regions in India are copyrighted modifications of public domain images, where the originals are available on wikimedia commons. Flags and symbols of Japanese prefectures are taken from wikimedia commons, and are either public domain, or copyrighted by other parties and used here as fair use to depict the flag or symbol. The "find us on facebook" image is copyrighted by facebook, and the identi.ca logo is from identi.ca, where it is available under a CC Attribution 3.0 license.
Images of teas, packaging, and logos:
RateTea.net uses a mix of images provided by tea companies, images we own the copyright on, and images adapted from public domain material. When in doubt, assume that each image is copyrighted by the company it originated from.
In most circumstances we obtain permission before using images. However, because not all companies respond to inquiries about permission to use images, in some cases we may also include copyrighted images without permission, using them under fair use for the purpose of comment and criticism. Such images are included solely in order to help users identify each individual tea, and are used at a low resolution (128px height).
Commercial descriptions, and trademarks:
To aid reviewers in identifying and reviewing teas, RateTea.net includes commercial descriptions and brewing instructions for teas when such material is available. We believe our use of these descriptions constitute fair use for the purpose of comment and criticism: an important aspect of rating and reviewing a tea involves assessing (a) the degree to which it lives up to its commercial description and (b) whether or not one is pleased with the provided brewing instructions.
If you are the copyright holder for material used in commercial description and have concerns about copyright infringement, inaccurate portrayal of your products, or wish for us to change our listings for the commercial description and brewing instructions of any of your products for any reason, we will gladly do so upon your request, so long as your request is honest and congruous with the way your product is marketed in other media: it is our desire to portray the commercial description as accurately as possible according to each company's wishes.
These commercial descriptions and some of the brewing instructions listed on our website have been obtained from various sources, including written material on packaging, websites, catalogs, and other promotional materials originating from tea companies. When in doubt, assume this material is copyrighted by the companies it originated from.
Trademarks:
The names of some teas are registered trademarks belonging to the companies that market them. While RateTea.net attempts to label these teas with the ® or ™ symbols, we may have omitted this symbol, especially when we obtained the name of the tea from a company source that also omitted this symbol. When in doubt, check with the company to see whether or not the name of a tea is trademarked before using it in a way that could infringe on trademark rights.
User ratings and reviews:
All people submitting ratings and reviews retain the rights to reuse or republish their own submissions in any way they so desire.
Obtaining permission to use copyrighted content:
You must obtain explicit written consent from RateTea.net / Merit Exchange LLC before using any copyrighted material from this website for any purpose beyond that permitted as fair use.
We cannot grant permission to use any content for which we do not own the copyright, such as commercial descriptions or images obtained from tea companies.